This year's hot trend with the elementary school set is Rainbow
Loom bracelets. But you probably already know this if you have a young girl or
boy in the house, or know a young girl or boy, or ever see a young girl or boy
anywhere. The bouncy little bracelets are ubiquitous.

"My son will spend a week making one. He'll work on it
before school, and he'll come home sometimes and that's all he does. All the
kids are doing it," says Middleburg Heights mother of four Jenine Black of her 8-year-old,
Wyatt. Her 6-year-old daughter also makes the bracelets and her 10-year old son
wears them, too.

Adds Parma mother of three Leeann Hochevar of her 8-year-old,
Cecilia, "All of the girls my daughter knows are into it. They go their friends' houses and that's what they do."

"That" refers to using a plastic loom, about 2-by-8-inches, to create intricately patterned colorful bracelets by weaving tiny rubber
bands in a variety of patterns. These range from simple fishtail patterns that
can be done by younger children in less than 30 minutes to a complex flag pattern
that might take tweens a week.

These bracelets are everywhere – except on enough store
shelves. Shortages have parents across
the nation in search of the tiny rubber bands (sold separately) and plastic
looms that enable their young ones to make wearable art in patterns such as "Hexafish" and "Starburst" – many of which
they learn from thousands of YouTube.com videos devoted to Rainbow Loom
bracelets.

"You hunt high and low for the bands and the looms, and
everybody is always sold out. You feel like a crazy person," laughs Black.

Black got one of her kits on a trip to South Haven, Mich.
The other she found at a Michael's location.
She also says Learning Express Toys at Southpark Mall in Strongsville
has a big supply (at the moment). Other
readers noted that many area Walgreens are currently stocking the bands, but
not the kits. I found a kit a
the Toys-R-Us Parma location, which had a small, but quickly diminishing,
pile. You can also find bands at locally owned Nicky Nicole stores in Westlake, Woodmere and Hudson, as well as online at nickynicole.com.

The trend seems to have hit the area in the summer and
quickly picked up when kids went back to school. Credit Michigan
father/inventor Cheong-Choon Ng for the hundreds of little bands clogging
up your vacuum cleaner.

Ng made his first loom with his
daughter about three years ago, using push pins – just to make crafts at home. But
the family project led to some homemade YouTube videos, and interest exploded.

Today, Ng has sold more than
1 million kits – and there are many similar competitors. His Rainbow Loom YouTube channel has more
than 66 videos and close to 4 million views. There are thousands of
homemade videos from kids across the world on YouTube, too.

Hochevar says her daughter got into the
bracelets when school started in the late summer. Black says the same thing - but
with a twist.

She first bought a loom for her
first-grade daughter, but her 8-year-old son soon became more interested when
he saw both male and female classmates making them.

"You wouldn't think an 8-year-old boy
would be really into making bracelets, but they all are," says Black. "My son
is making the American Flag design right now. He and his classmates say it's the
ultimate. It could take a week."

"I like that there are so many things
you can make with them," says Wyatt Black of the bracelet's appeal. "The flag
is really hard, but it's fun. My friends say my bracelets are really cool."

Black says the bracelets are a project
of which she approves.

"I'm all for it because they're taking
the time and making it. He's really proud of it when he makes something
complicated, and he'll take it to school and show his friends. It's better than
Silly Bandz."

Still, Parma mom Hochevar is holding
off on getting too excited about the bracelets.

"I spent way too much money on the Silly Bandz craze," she
says. "I still have packets of them laying around here."

For now, her daughter makes them with friends, but does not
have her own loom – which is on her Christmas wish list.

Her school, St. Columbkille in Parma, does not allow students to wear the bracelets. Many area private schools have the same rule. Most area public schools, such as the Berea schools that Black's children attend, do allow them. But schools in some other states have started
banning the wearing and trading of Rainbow Loom bracelets during school hours. As
one principal in Brooklyn, N.Y. said, the bracelets are addictive.

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